Book or film you couldn’t stop thinking about

[BethanyGilbert]

I finished the book “I’m Thinking Of Ending It” last night and I can’t stop thinking about the end. It wasn’t scary as such but so unsettling.
I read about a film (never been brave enough to watch it which makes this even more embarrassing) but the image that accompanied the article has haunted me ever since.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit is the skin I live in based on the french book Tarantula? If it’s the one I’m thinking of, it’s very sad.

Lolita. I’ve started reading it but it made me feel sick and I had to stop. It’s unusual for me to be put off to the point of stopping reading!

The truth about the Harry Quebert affair.

Non fiction.

If This Is a Man/The Truce by Primo Levi.

People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck.

True everyday horror.

@puds11

Yes it's Tarantula, I read the book afterwards but the story is so much more horrifying played put visually, I thought.

I mean, I recommend it but it shocked me so much, I've never forgotten

The film Moonlight. That film is just extraordinary and often comes to my mind.

I recently reread Beloved by Toni Morrison. I first read it at 21. What it's come back to feed me at 47 is something totally different. God, what a book! You can't go through life and not read it.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit is the film a good portrayal of the book? I didn’t watch it because I tend to find films disappointing after I’ve read the book.

Film: Pans Labyrinth

Book: Child of the Forest which is the story of Shulamit Perlmutter. Made me cry.

@puds11

It's been a long time. I did it the wrong way round, I know there are a few differences/departures and the end is different and probably should have stayed true to book.

I massively preferred the film though.

The film Lion. Can't believe it's based on a true story.

Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer. I saw it at the student film society - would never ever watch it again. I did wonder why the hell it was ever made. So depressing in every way. Just disgustingly awful and the bad guy goes unpunished.

Schindler's list didn't sleep that night because of it and for days after.

I'm with thistree. 'Children of Earth' makes me cry every single time. When he picks up the gun and walks into that room.... goosepimples.

A Thousand Splendid Suns (I think, it was a while ago!) The stoning scene got me so badly that I had to put the book down for a week or two and go back to it.

Also The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. There was a description of nazis shooting Jews into pits and one of the characters says something about the little toddlers running round the pits over the dead bodies screaming for their mothers before the soldiers shot them too. Just horrifying and still gives me shivers and makes me cry now.

The film The Last King of Scotland. There's a scene near the end which was hard to forget.

The book that has made a lasting impression on me is The Five which came out last year.

The author gives the life stories of the victims of Jack the Ripper who like most people I just assumed were down and out prostitutes. All of them had husbands and children and were part of the "respectable " working class before tragedy, bad luck and alcoholism brought them down to living in lodging houses in Whitechapel.

When I think of the bad choices I have made in my life I could have ended up like them if I was alive then. There but for the Grace of God etc.

Dreams from my Father. Our politics had already gone to shit (at least that's how it felt at the time, had no idea what was to come!) and I loved everything Obama said and stood for. I read it fairly early on when we were just starting to notice him over here and I was telling everyone about him.

"Corrie"- part of "Corrie Ten Boom"
Her autobiography. I was about 7 or 8 at the time and picked it off the shelves to read it thinking it was children's book as it was similar size.
She was sent to a concentration camp for hiding Jews.
I didn't actually find the concentration camp the memorable bit. There's two parts I remember.
One is when she's released and limps off and finds someone who takes her in and says to her "I've just got you dry biscuits because your stomach won't cope with any richer" and she cries because she knows they care.
And the other, years later, she's giving a talk. At the end a man comes up and holds out his hand and says "thank you". She looks up and sees the face of an SS guard from the concentration camp she was at. She shakes his hand and forgives him. Very powerful.

The Accused
The Magdalene Sisters

Both displaying sheer brutality against young women.

@SameOldHorrorStory I saw Mysterious Skin in the cinema. The scene with the firework was horrific from what I can remember and the whole film left me with such a sad feeling afterwards.

The Bone People by Keri Hulme. The way the little boy loved the man so much even though the man had been so violent towards him.

Book: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.
Film: Black Swan.

I totally agree with the Inside No 9 episode The 12 Days of Christine. I cried so hard at the end and it has always stayed with me. It was such a clever piece of tv.

Another vote for Stuart; A Life Backwards.

I read the book first and then watched the film. I found it an incredibly sad story, with some very humorous parts, and made me think about all the awful things which people have to go through.

Book would be "Lorelei's Secret", I can't remember the author but it's about loss and grief and dogs and it really moved me. As a kid I read "A Time to Die" by Lois Lowry. We were on holiday in France and I ran to my tiny caravan bedroom to cry.

Film would be The Constant Gardener". I couldn't sleep that night, then dozed off but kept waking up thinking about it. Harrowing.